


Hurry

by she_who_the_river_could_not_hold



Series: Spooky Things (And Other Stranger Stories from Hawkins) [2]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Gen, I'm not sure how to tag this, at least I hope they are?, but it is NOT fun, it is not angst, kinda skin crawly descriptions, the summary tells you what it is though so that's about all folks!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-10
Updated: 2018-08-10
Packaged: 2019-06-24 16:27:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15634419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/she_who_the_river_could_not_hold/pseuds/she_who_the_river_could_not_hold
Summary: A snapshot of Will Byers’ time in the Upside Down.





	Hurry

He thought he couldn’t breathe at first.

 

It was like he was underwater, the blue tinge of his hands making his mind whisper that he’s already died. But he feels his blood pulse beneath his veins, working overtime. He can hear his shallow breathing echo in this endless chamber. He doesn’t know where he is. Except that maybe hell isn’t what he’s been told it is and instead it’s an echo of the world out there. A bastardization cloaked in darkness and one that plays tricks on you. One that lets you hear your loved ones, only to yank you into its dying depths far away from them.

 

Decaying pieces of his life drifted around him as if in a dream. Home, but not home. His feet dragged through something — but what exactly, he couldn’t tell. It was wet and sticky but he could never see what it was. All he saw was darkness, threatening to crawl up his legs and pull him under until it swallowed him. Tendrils of tentacles laying dormant, waiting just one from step from him.

 

_Run._

 

_Run._

 

_Run._

 

Cursing never being athletic. He’d never had his heart rate racing before, not even on bike rides racing through town with his friends by his side. But here he is alone and his heart is in his throat. His lungs want to explode as he inhales particles of only God knows what. Pushing his body so that he could get away from that thing. Straining muscles and expanding his body. Make himself bigger, stronger, better than he was. But it never lasts. His body collapses and he scrambles to escape that thing. That thing that stole him away. 

 

_Hide._

 

_Hide._

 

_Hide._

 

The lacework of slime decorates everything. It’s taken over his hideaway. HIS fort of safety, the place that’s been his getaway from the monsters of the real world. And now he hides from real monsters. A monster that can’t see but sense his every move. 

 

He’s so tired.

 

He wants to sleep.

 

_But he has to keep fighting._

 

He saw his mom the other day. Was that even a day? Does time exist in this vacuum of monstrous creatures and himself? Touched her through an open wound between worlds and he believed for a moment that he would be saved. But they’d been interrupted. And now he’s so tired of fighting and running. He’s tried what he can do. Anything. Everything.

 

But he calls out and fights and nothing happens.

 

Maybe just for a little bit, he’ll sneak back into his fort. This place hasn’t stolen everything yet. So maybe he’ll pull that flimsy blanket over him and close his eyes for a minute. He can imagine what it feels like to have the warmth of living rush through your body. What does it feel like to not feel clammy? To not feel your fingers struggle to curl into a fist as you prepare every ounce of weight you have to fight for your life? He won’t go down without one.

 

He’s survived this long. He knows its been feeding elsewhere. And he won’t let it take him.

 

But right now he’s too exhausted.

 

So maybe he’ll just close his eyes for a minute.

 

He’s not sure how long he’s been asleep when he feels the slightest pressure in his hand. His body is lead and he’s not sure he moves. It’s a voice urging him, telling him that his mom is coming. His ears are filled with pressure and he’s colder now. Stiffer. He won’t be able to outrun it this time. His eyelashes struggling to flutter open when even the muted, green light is too much to bear. He doesn’t want to see it coming.

 

But the ghost of a hand in his tickles him with the memory of home. A place that’s this but breathing, alive. Not the oozing remnants of a forgotten universe where he’s stalked by a monster.

 

He doesn’t know if he can do it though. He won’t last another round. So instead he pulls from within and finds the one words he can muster up. Swaying in and out of consciousness as he makes his plea.

 

_Hurry._

 

_Hurry._

 

_Hurry._

**Author's Note:**

> A part of this series is going to be me exploring some different writing styles! While I didn’t take much from it in terms of writing this, I was really inspired by the body horror scenes in the movie “Annihilation.” It’s such a rare thing used in media nowadays and when I decided on doing an Upside Down-centric fic, I knew I wanted to draw on that as the root of my descriptors. It was a really fun practice to delve deeper into what that could have been like for Will and to flex some other writing “muscles” for me! Thanks for checking it out!


End file.
